Onward! Onward! Onward!

Author:

Jiang Zhi

Description:

A video installation created with the help of three professional actors, each of them imitating a political personality, namely the three Presidents of the People’s Republic of China : Mao Zedong, Deng Ziaoping and Jiang Zemin. The three men run one after the other, with Mao in front. Although the presidents run ahead, they move within their limited black space till they have no more strength left. Their running is ironically highlighted much more than the narration of the progress, the moving ahead, which automatically speaks to us about the past, the present and the future of China, the spirit which is the reason behind its rapid transformation, the by-products of historical alienation and unspeakable anxiety generated by relentless development.